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This article is about the infantry unit in Age of Mythology. For other uses of the term, see Mercenary. |
The Mercenary is an Egyptian infantry unit in Age of Mythology, trained at the Town Center. The Mercenary can be trained incredibly quickly but only lasts for a short while, as it loses hit points over time.
Special ability[]
Deathly Donative (Passive, requires Funeral Rites): Yields 8 gold on death.
Tactics[]
Mercenaries are trained almost instantly and do not take up any population slots. Hence they are useful when a player needs to respond to a sudden attack near one of their Town Centers. Mercenaries are especially good against cavalry, but are fair against all human units. Caution is needed when using Mercenaries, as they cost a lot of gold and die after 40 seconds.
Before Retold, Medjay gave Mercenaries a longer lifespan allowing them to be used offensively. Enemy units will be quickly knocked off by these units, and after they die, players can finish off the survivors with their regular forces.
Further statistics[]
General technologies[]
- Copper Weapons, Bronze Weapons, Iron Weapons: +10% damage
- Copper Armor, Bronze Armor, Iron Armor: -10% hack vulnerability
- Copper Shields, Bronze Shields, Iron Shields: -10% pierce vulnerability
Myth technologies[]
- Funeral Rites (Nephthys): Refunds 8 gold on death.
- Greatest of Fifty (Horus): +10% speed and +20% hit points
- Medjay (Hathor): +30 seconds lifespan (total 70 seconds, before Retold)
Age bonuses[]
- Classical Age: +10% hit points, +10% damage
- Heroic Age: +15% hit points, +15% damage
- Mythic Age: +20% hit points, +20% damage
Relics[]
- Armor of Achilles: -5% hack vulnerability.
- Canopic Jar of Imsety: -25% training time.
- Feather of Bifang: +0.2 attack multiplier vs. buildings.
- Gaia's Book of Knowledge: +3.0 attack multiplier vs. Titans.
- Pelt of Argus: +6 Line of Sight.
- Thundercloud Shawl: -5% pierce vulnerability.
Changelog[]
Age of Mythology[]
- Originally, Mercenaries had no build limit. With patch 1.03, they have a build limit of 12.
- Mercenaries have 85 hit points, 8 hack attack, 45% hack resistance, 30% pierce resistance, 20 Line of Sight, train in 1 second, and have a lifespan of 40 seconds.
Extended Edition[]
- Mercenary hack resistance reduced to 35%, and pierce resistance to 15%.
Tale of the Dragon[]
- With patch 2.7, training time increased 2 seconds.
Retold[]
- Mercenaries have 6.5 hack attack, 16 Line of Sight, and a multiplier of 1.25× vs. cavalry.
- The Mercenary no longer has a fixed lifespan, but loses hit points over time (and so can die earlier depending on damage taken).
- With update 17.36100, Mercenaries have 90 hit points, 7 hack attack, a multiplier of 1.5× vs cavalry and train in 1 second.
Description[]
| “ | As an Egyptian, you may employ Mercenaries at any of your Town Centers. Mercenaries train very quickly, cost only gold and are good at countering Cavalry. They are primarily used for town defense because their services can only be bought for a short time, rarely long enough to make the trek into an enemy town. | ” |
| —In-game help section | ||
Trivia[]
- Judging by their skin color and affiliation with the Egyptians, the Mercenaries are likely of Nubian origin. Further, Amanra is initially described as a Mercenary captain who later becomes the queen of Nubia.
- Nubian mercenaries, called the Medjay, were commonly hired in Egypt, often to defend the frontiers and the pyramids under construction, until they were formalized as a permanent unit.
- Mercenaries (and Mercenary Cavalry) use ikem, the typical Egyptian infantry shields made of animal hide, in this instance cowhide. Before Retold, they used a zebra skin shield shaped as an oval like the Nguni shields of the Zulu in southern Africa, as is still done by Amanra.
Gallery[]
